PREFACE

All successful businesses are high credibility businesses. They are created around a core of strong values. People who believe passionately in those principles and who communicate their commitment to those values in a consistent manner lead them. Those businesses stand for something. They are worthwhile community servants. They value their customers and their employees. As a result people want to do business with them.

Similarly, most successful people are perceived to be highly credible. They have established goals, and they consistently work toward achieving their goals. They understand how to motivate others to work as effective teams. And, as a result people want to follow their lead.

I have found that none of this occurs by accident. These exceptional businesses and individuals have cracked the code. They understand the High Credibility Formula and have made it part of their work and lives.

Your High Credibility Formula tells the story of how a young entrepreneurial couple (Billy and Beth Cummings) learn how to apply the High Credibility Formula from some sage advisers:

Joe Flaherty: a crusty 80-year-old Irish immigrant who has seen many ups and downs in his life and learned much about credibility and its value in building long-term success; and,

Chuck and Diane Duran: a middle-aged couple who have experienced their own business and personal tribulations, but persevered and ultimately succeeded by following Joe’s wise counsel.

If all business leaders understood and embraced the concepts underlying the High Credibility Formula we would have many more long-standing successful enterprises. Too many organizations are started with a flurry of activity and excitement only to flame out or limp along. They fail for a variety of reasons: inadequate capital; no real planning; misjudged the market; uninspired leadership; even immoral managers. They might gain early acceptance but lack the staying power to succeed. When I look at these situations it seems to me that it all comes down to credibility. Were they able to establish and sustain high credibility over an extended period of time? The real winners achieve that status.

Recently we have witnessed some spectacular corporate flameouts. What do Enron, Global Crossing, Arthur Andersen, Waste Management, Sunbeam and K-Mart have in common? Each has lost its credibility in a highly visible way and with disastrous results for their many stakeholders. Investors and employees alike have seen their equity vanish almost overnight.

Highly-placed individuals have also seen years of good work dissolve in an instant. Both the new head football coach at Notre Dame and the Chairwoman of the U.S. Olympic Committee were forced to resign in disgrace due to misrepresentations on their respective resumes. A number of wealthy Wall Street investment analysts have been discredited by investigations that demonstrate that they were not providing independent advice when recommending that investors buy shares in companies which their firms were touting. And, we see the Catholic Church in turmoil due to the failure of some leaders of the church to protect the best interests of their parishioners.

These companies and individuals breached their fundamental values. They failed their stakeholders’ expectations. We seem to be swirling in a crisis of credibility.

Look at the Enron debacle. Here we have a small energy company that in less than a decade grew to become the seventh largest company in the U.S. From all appearances Enron was a fantastic success story. Its thousands of employees believed what their leaders were saying about the company’s strength and future growth. In various interviews the CEO was quoted as saying that “Enron deals with everyone with integrity”. Then the colossal fall came and employees saw their 401K savings plans wiped out and outside shareholders lost their investments. At the same time the insiders were taking huge windfall gains. Moral: bigness does not guarantee credibility. Clearly, the Enron senior management team failed to comprehend the High Credibility Formula.

It doesn’t matter whether we are talking about for-profit businesses, charities, schools, churches, teams or individuals, the High Credibility Formula creates the foundation upon which to build long-term success. Through our fictional friends in Your High Credibility Formula we learn the value of striving to build high credibility in all we do.

My mission in writing this book is to share my view of the value of credibility in achieving and maintaining successful organizations. The concepts expressed in this story are a combination of my observations and experiences over several decades as an entrepreneur and consultant. In my career I have experienced great highs and devastating lows. The older I get the more I understand that this happens to almost everyone, particularly those who take risks in life.

I am sharing these ideas in the hopes that others involved in starting and growing organizations may come to understand the importance of adopting their own personal set of Guiding Principles. Thereby, they can create a culture within the enterprise that appreciates and honors those value statements in all aspects of its activities.

May you grow your own high credibility enterprise. And, may you become an individual who consistently acts in a manner that represents the very best of your Guiding Principles.